Conversationalist

But, in all seriousness, this looks pretty cool. I’m looking forward to seeing a voiced version.
I do assume that the point of Katawa Seiyu is a voiced version of the game? I can’t seem to find any info on their purpose.

Yes indeed it is. It’ll be a fully voiced and choice-compatible (through annotations) version of KS available of Youtube. I’d be happy to answer any other questions you have about the project, to an extent.

>Not Otaku enough
Does a game made by an assembled group of Americans from 4chan have to be super japanese?

I sincerely hope you realize I’m kidding.

You’d be surprised. This is one of the most prominent complaints we seem to be getting, the other two being “You’re getting the pronunciation wrong!” and “It doesn’t sound like the voice in my head!” (Funfact: Lots of members of the team speak at least basic Japanese, and have made sure that the pronunciation of the names is as correct as it can be without being a Japanese scholar.)

Sr. Forum Moderator

I’m unsure how to feel about this. When I read Katawa Shoujo, I imagined how every single character would sound and read each characters dialog in their voice. Their voice being the one I created for them in my mind. I put a lot of careful attention into that.

So hearing other people share how they interpret the voices of characters excites me but when I find they didn’t use the same voice that I invented, I am going to be disappointed. Oh well.

The good news is that I never assigned a voice to Hisao and just used my own for him, so the current voice actor for Hisao works just fine for me.

Never-the-less it’s a great idea and I totally support it, even if the voice actors aren’t Japanese. using American voice actors will probably make the series more approachable to audiences anyway (we are all used to hearing American voice actors)

Also I realize I have been pronouncing Shizune’s name wrong all this time…

Conversationalist

You’re not alone in pronouncing the names wrong. (I still say He-SAY-Oh in my head) And yeah, hearing a voice other than the one we’ve given to the characters themselves is odd even for us, but this project is for those who want it voiced. If anyone doesn’t like the voices, then I heard 4LS made a lovely text-only version.

Conversationalist

I’m unsure how to feel about this. When I read Katawa Shoujo, I imagined how every single character would sound and read each characters dialog in their voice. Their voice being the one I created for them in my mind. I put a lot of careful attention into that.

So hearing other people share how they interpret the voices of characters excites me but when I find they didn’t use the same voice that I invented, I am going to be disappointed. Oh well.

The good news is that I never assigned a voice to Hisao and just used my own for him, so the current voice actor for Hisao works just fine for me.

Never-the-less it’s a great idea and I totally support it, even if the voice actors aren’t Japanese. using American voice actors will probably make the series more approachable to audiences anyway (we are all used to hearing American voice actors)

Also I realize I have been pronouncing Shizune’s name wrong all this time…

Don’t worry, that guy is pronouncing the names completely wrong as well…

Entry Moderator & Webcomicologist & Twitterologist

You’re not alone in pronouncing the names wrong. (I still say He-SAY-Oh in my head) And yeah, hearing a voice other than the one we’ve given to the characters themselves is odd even for us, but this project is for those who want it voiced. If anyone doesn’t like the voices, then I heard 4LS made a lovely text-only version.

This is why I like being a Japanese minor, because I’ve developed a strong enough grasp of syllables to not be freaked out by pronunciation.

Well, unless the pronunciation is inaccurate, but as you have given evidence for, I don’t think that’s going to be an issue here.

Forum Moderator

Don’t worry, that guy is pronouncing the names completely wrong as well…

I will have to object to this. I’m not any Japanese expert, but I have been watching anime (usually in it’s original dubbing) for a very long time so I feel that I have a very decent grasp on pronunciation of names and I have to say that the pronunciation of the names (as far as I can remember from the sample we got) were just about how I imagined them being said. Unless you have some proof of how the names are to be pronounced? In which case I would love to see a source and see where I am wrong

Conversationalist

Don’t worry, that guy is pronouncing the names completely wrong as well…

(Funfact: Lots of members of the team speak at least basic Japanese, and have made sure that the pronunciation of the names is as correct as it can be without being a Japanese scholar.)

One of the team members is even a linguistics major, so I think it’s safe to say that we’ve got it pretty much correct. The only pronunciation you could really make a fuss about is Rin’s, but within the audience of those who’ve played KS, which is largely American, it’s generally accepted that her name’s pronounced Rin and not Reen. Otherwise the phrase “Rin in a Bin” would make no sense.

That being said, would you really want to hear Lilly’s name pronounced as “Reeree” again and again? Because as far as I know, that’s the strictly Japanese pronunciation.

Peasant

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Crimson Locks wrote:

I will have to object to this. I’m not any Japanese expert, but I have been watching anime (usually in it’s original dubbing) for a very long time so I feel that I have a very decent grasp on pronunciation of names and I have to say that the pronunciation of the names (as far as I can remember from the sample we got) were just about how I imagined them being said. Unless you have some proof of how the names are to be pronounced? In which case I would love to see a source and see where I am wrong

Conversationalist

(Funfact: Lots of members of the team speak at least basic Japanese, and have made sure that the pronunciation of the names is as correct as it can be without being a Japanese scholar.)

One of the team members is even a linguistics major, so I think it’s safe to say that we’ve got it pretty much correct. The only pronunciation you could really make a fuss about is Rin’s, but within the audience of those who’ve played KS, which is largely American, it’s generally accepted that her name’s pronounced Rin and not Reen. Otherwise the phrase “Rin in a Bin” would make no sense.

That being said, would you really want to hear Lilly’s name pronounced as “Reeree” again and again? Because as far as I know, that’s the strictly Japanese pronunciation.

Peasant

Nobody’s impressed by your sarcasm. I’m sure you feel very smart and superior, but let’s try not to be an asshole next time, mmkay?

No shit, why would someone be impressed by sarcasm? There is no skill in sarcasm, my demoralization is nothing to look up to.

Your skills at being a weeaboo, however, astound me. The mere fact that you have watched undubbed animaymay has ascended you from a commenter with no argument to a demi-god of pronunciation in the form of Japanese wording and culture. Your post truly highlights that of what a person will go through just to learn, in the form of multimedia and using two common senses. Japanese is truly a memory game that can only be learned in the form of watching one type of media.

Damn son, you blow me away. I’m guessing you are skilled in Gorilla Warfare as well?

Entry Moderator & Webcomicologist & Twitterologist

Conversationalist

No shit, why would someone be impressed by sarcasm? There is no skill in sarcasm, my demoralization is nothing to look up to.

Your skills at being a weeaboo, however, astound me. The mere fact that you have watched undubbed animaymay has ascended you from a commenter with no argument to a demi-god of pronunciation in the form of Japanese wording and culture. Your post truly highlights that of what a person will go through just to learn, in the form of multimedia and using two common senses. Japanese is truly a memory game that can only be learned in the form of watching one type of media.

Damn son, you blow me away. I’m guessing you are skilled in Gorilla Warfare as well?

Research Moderator & ???

Conversationalist

the voice of Hisao seems pretty good, but it will still take a while for me to get used to the voice acting.

i think the real challenge is getting a good voice for Misha

Our Misha is good, but it probably won’t sound like what you expect. None of these will, but a bit moreso for her, I think, specifically because she’s such a boisterous character and everyone has a different interpretation.

Database Moderator & Anime Anthropologist

Our Misha is good, but it probably won’t sound like what you expect. None of these will, but a bit moreso for her, I think, specifically because she’s such a boisterous character and everyone has a different interpretation.

Your Misha’s good, eh? It’s obviously Hope voicing her then (In-joke from her stream). Other than that, I can’t wait to see how the other characters are voiced, it Hisao is good at the least.

Conversationalist

I haven’t been able to hear all of who’s been casted and we haven’t casted a few Act-2 characters, but from everything I’ve heard, the acting is pretty awesome. Also note: I’m 85% sure that we’re releasing each individual act complete and not episodically, so you won’t have to hold yourself in check while the videos are being uploaded. :p

Conversationalist

Hmm. I don’t know. I know I asked for feedback, but it’s tricky, because everyone has their own idea of how much emotion etc that they should put into it. For instance, my conception of what Misha should sound like is completely different than what’s depicted, so I was worried that it wouldn’t be received well. Seems to be getting a pretty good response, though. I will listen to more feedback though.